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(No Model) T. FOOTE.

FOOD PRBSERVER.

No. 363,625. Patented May 24, 1887.

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N. PETERS. l hntwLilhognpher, Wnhilghm 04 c4 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THEODORE MARSHALL FOOTE, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF FIVE-EIGHTHS TO FRANKLIN REED, OF BATH, MAINE, AND HENRY O. GOODSPEED, OE BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

FOOD-PRESERVER.

SPECIFICATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 363,625, dated May 24-, 1887. Application tiled September 20, 1886. Serial No. 214,049. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, Tnnononn MARsHALL Foorn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in' the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Food Preservers, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the present invention is to furnish a simple and effective device or recepro tacle for preserving food; and it consists in the features of construction hereinafter described and claimed, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a vertical sectional View of a food-preserver constructed accordingto my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan or top view of the same.

The reference-numeral l designates a casing or box which constitutes my food-preserver, 2c and is provided with a lid or door, 2, for gaining access to its interior. The shape and size of this casing or box may be varied at will to suit the requirements of the case or the use to which it is to be put. In the present instance 2 a rectangular or square structure is shown, but,

as already stated, the shape is not material.

The structure shown in the drawings is specially designed for use as a bread-box, or for holding provisions that do not require ice for go preservation and are capable of being preserved by an abstraction of moisture from and the presence of a purified atmosphere. The provisions are placed inside the box, and may rest on a grate, 4, so that they will not rest 5 directly on the floor.

The frame or superstructure of the box is formed of wooden bars or strips,,and the walls are composed of porous plates or panels 5 of some porous mineral material. These panels 0 are held in place in any approved manner, and, as illustrated, they are fitted in grooved strips, according to the practice of setting panels in inlaid or ornamental tile-work.

In applying the broad or generic term of 5 porous mineral material to the walls of my food-preserver, I desire to have 1t understood that unglazed earthenware, porous tiles, terracotta, and a composition of carbon and a binding material are some of the materials that may be specifically mentioned. There are, however, other substances, which all possess the property of osmotic action, and can be molded or shaped into panels or plates in order to adapt the same for the purposes of my invention.

The action of my food-preserver may be described as follows, vizrThe food contents of the box exist in an atmosphere from which impurities have been eliminated by the infiltration of the air through the porous panels, and hence such articles as, for example, bread, cheese, pastry, and analogous substances are preserved from injury and decay from impure atmospheres. The capability of porous septa, allowing a passage or flow of gases or air, is well known, and it is also well understood that impurities existing in the air which surrounds the casing or box are arrested by the porous walls and only purified air allowed to enter the box and come in contact with the articles to be preserved. Furthermore, it follows that any excess of moisture over that in the external atmosphere which may be thrown 011' by the contents of the box is absorbed by the porous walls and evaporated on the outside of such walls. Consequently the presence of dry purified air inside the box contributes to the perfect preservation of the contents thereof.

I do not wish to limit myself to any special form or size of food-preserver; and I contemplate using all kinds of materials of mineral origin capable of allowing an infiltration of air; but I have to add that in a former application for patent filed October 14, 1885, Serial No. 179,887, I have set forth a refrigerator which comprises a provision-chamber having walls of absorbent material sufliciently porous to allow the moisture to pass through to its outer side into an open air-space between said provision-chamber and an outer shell or casing, the object being to evaporate the moisture percolated through the walls of the provision-chamber by the air in thespace between said chamber and the outer wall.

The present invention differs from the one just referred to, as itdoes not require ice or an outer casing, and it is a useful and convenient article of furniture for holding and preserving provisions of the character hcreabsorbing moisture and permitting infiltration tofore indicated. of air, and a lid or door for gaining access to Having thus described my invention, What the interior of the box or case, substantially I claim is as described. Y 5 A food-preserving box or case consisting of In testimony whereof I aifix my signature in r 5 a skeleton frame comprising bars or strips, presence of two Witnesses.

panels of porous earthenware or mineral ma- THEODORE MARSHALL l OO'lE. terial placed over the spaces formed between W'itnesses: the bars or strips, and having their edges fitted A. F. DENISON,

IO and secured to the bars or strips, said plates GEO. T. POWER. 

